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Saturday, 5 December 2015

Swedish beauty

Just when you think
your running motivation is at its lowest, an amazing almost-long run
makes you want to stay outside and cover kilometre after kilometre
until the sun sets. Which, in Northern Sweden, is about 5 seconds
after it rises. But you get my drift.

I don't know if it was
wise of me to go running today, considering that hills made me gasp
for breath and old ladies pushing walkers overtook me, but I haven't
needed to get hospitalized yet, which I take to mean that I am now
completely, 100% healthy after my suspected tonsillitis. I will
continue to hold that position until pneumonia hits me. What I do
know is that I didn't regret it.

The light in the sky on my way up
to our meeting place with AIK was surreal, more dusk than dawn, with
flames of pink and red slashing the dark blue of early morning.
Buildings were on fire.

I knew we would run up
to Vitberget and the forest, and was a bit apprehensive. Despite its
name, Vitberget (White mountain) is only a hill, but it offers some
steep climbs if you know where to look. These, combined with the 10
cm snow covering the rocks and roots that litter all smaller paths there,
made for some tricky, demanding terrain.

But oh, the beauty. The
tunnels of weary tree branches, white and heavy with snow. The views towards
Kåge and the sea, under stripes of grey and orange sky. The trails,
asking way too much of my injury-weakened feet and ankles but more
than making up for it by offering such great exercise in return. I
was ecstatic.

On my way home, I took
a little detour but still decided to be happy with ”only” 19 km.
I had somewhere to be afterwards, and besides, the weather had taken
a turn for the worse with icy raindrops slowly working their way into
the soft snow and turning it into ice.

This. This kind of
running is what makes me want to sing. Or at least – to everyone's
relief – blog about it.